Jan 29, 2021I Am Not Going BackConsciousness Shifts in the Trump Age and What They Mean for Now I remember that October night in 2017, the night my consciousness shifted so much I knew there was no going back. I was at NYU for a live taping of Maria Hinojosa’s and Julio Ricardo Varela’s politics podcast In The Thick produced by Futuro Media. The topic: “Undocumented and Unafraid.”…Immigration4 min readImmigration4 min read
Jul 11, 2020‘Cruel’ Is Not Enough: Trump’s Crimes Against Humanity Must Not Be Diminished by Our WordsWe use the word cruel to describe a multitude of sins. To do so is not wrong, of course, but is cruel the best way to describe actions or policies that gravely injure or kill people? If an administration creates concentration camps, separates migrant families and warehouses them in said…Donald Trump3 min readDonald Trump3 min read
Nov 19, 2019Why I’ll Be at the New Sanctuary Coalition Gala on My Stepfather’s BirthdayThis Thursday, November 21st, my stepfather Rufino Villas Lamoste would have been 74 years old. He died five years ago back home in Michigan. Detroit is my “back home.” But for Rufino, Manila was back home. He emigrated from the Philippines in the 1970s on a medical student visa, completing…Immigration3 min readImmigration3 min read
Oct 15, 2018Show Some Love for the World Famous Apollo Kids!First published in CALLALOO Volume 38, Number 1 1. Up the stairs, up the stairs, the ushers point and nod, letting us know to keep going, don’t stop, that there are no seats available between here and the nosebleeds. We snagged free tickets to a taping of Showtime at the…Essay20 min readEssay20 min read
Sep 9, 2018Only Party Worth a Damn: 2018Democratic Voters Speak Out Anyone who wanted to understand Trump voters in 2017 — or 2018 — only needed to read an American newspaper or magazine. Trump voter profiles were everywhere. “Who Were Donald Trump’s Voters? Now We Know” to “Cultural Anxiety That Drive White, Working-Class Voters” to “The Obama-TrumpVoters…Politics11 min readPolitics11 min read
May 11, 2018This Mother’s Day Trump’s Border Patrol is Separating Children From Their MothersAnd their fathers. This past Monday, AG Jeff Sessions announced that the official policy of the USG is to separate children from the parents of families caught crossing the border without documents. Small children. Toddlers taken away to be held in frigid detention without their mothers and their fathers. Detention…Immigration1 min readImmigration1 min read
Apr 10, 2018History as Healing Work: DETROIT 48202There’s a moment in Pam Sporn’s powerful documentary Detroit 48202: Conversations Along a Postal Route when Julia Putnam, co-founder of Detroit’s The Boggs School, describes an experience that’s as familiar as it is painful for Detroiters born after the ’67 Rebellion. It’s that moment when an elder describes Detroit’s glory…Detroit4 min readDetroit4 min read
Jan 27, 2018Dear Sen. Schumer: Time to Protect Immigrants in AmericaDear Sen. Schumer: I hope this letter finds you doing as well as possible. Thank you for your work to support immigrants, especially Dreamers and DACA recipients. I listen to commentators who say you did the best you could last week. That you saved hostages. But I feel for the…Immigration2 min readImmigration2 min read
Jan 20, 2018Last January She Was Scared, This January She’s Determined#WomensMarch Participants One Year Later One year ago, 3.3 to 4.6 million human beings took to the streets in organized #WomensMarches across the globe. After that momentous day, I interviewed 41 participants representing 15 marches. …Politics8 min readPolitics8 min read
Jan 13, 2018On Dr. King’s “Dangerous Unselfishness” in the Year 2018I recently re-read Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 Memphis remarks given on the eve of his assassination. He spoke on the parable of the Good Samaritan. Of course Dr. King wants us to be like the Samaritan who aids a man felled by thieves on the road between Jerusalem…Politics3 min readPolitics3 min read
